


Strength of Body (Strength of Mind)

by fatiguedfern



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: F/F, Gen, Introspection, Spoilers for chapter 1-3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 11:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11207166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fatiguedfern/pseuds/fatiguedfern
Summary: Though her illusions may shatter, Tenko does not.





	Strength of Body (Strength of Mind)

**Author's Note:**

> I realized that though I claim Tenko to be my 2nd favourite v3 character, I haven't written anything centered around her. So here, take this mess.

Amami (mysterious, suspiscious, _male_ Amami) is found dead.

|||

Tenko slams her palm against the wall with a frustrated grunt and dull thud. A twisted part of her wonders if the sound’s reminiscent of that which Amami’s skull had made as it had given in. 

None of it had seemed truly _real_ until they’d discovered his body collapsed in a pool of his own blood. Now, however, with a fresh corpse on their hands and the seeds of suspicion that had been sown since their arrival blooming, reality had never appeared more cutting.

It pains her to admit that she has no idea where to start her investigation, and if she did, she doubts that whatever she finds will be of much use. It takes all of Tenko’s feeble restraint to not scream; shout out her frustrations to faces she couldn’t quite blame, even the disgusting, vile boys. 

But Tenko is strong and she’d try her best.

 

|||

 

The light Akamatsu radiates is so bright that at times Tenko couldn’t help but look away for fear of being blinded, but with recent truths spilt, it’s become all the easier to keep the pianist out of her line of sight.

Akamatsu was beautiful in every aspect of the word. She’d cared for everyone and everything and she’d been so _kind_. Yet they still wind up with the girl spewing half-hearted rebuttals while further splitting herself between her own interests and the group she’d sought to protect. And suddenly it occurs to Tenko that perhaps Akamatsu had cared too much.

Tenko should’ve known better; should’ve done more. She’d read Akamatsu’s body language as soon as they had entered the elevator; it being the same as her losing opponents that had kept smiling under the guise of good sportsmanship. 

_Denial._

Tenko is strong and she would save her friend.  
(She isn’t strong enough.)

|||

Akamatsu (beautiful, caring, _lying_ Akamatsu) is found guilty.

|||

It’s one of the rare occasions that Tenko hasn’t latched herself to Yumeno’s side when she comes across Akamatsu’s research lab’s door standing ajar. Taking caution to lighten her footsteps to the best of her ability, Tenko peers into the room.

She finds Saihara sleeping with his head tucked safely in his crossed arms, resting on the sleek piano lid at an odd angle. Tenko almost turns away, almost chalks it up to his testosterone-ridden mind getting the best of him, yet she stays motionless. 

_Pity? No, sympathy? Empathy?_

The detective appears more weak than ever with the pale moonlight lapping at his single visible, tearstained cheek. The image is made all the more pathetic by the sporadic shivers that travel through his body as the cool night breeze seeps through the gaping window. 

It’d be so easy to reach over and snap his frail little neck- rid the world of another filthy male- but the thought is as fleeting as the bloodlust it brings with it. Tenko doesn’t allow the possibility to surface again. No, not when she still has people to shield. (Even if some were filthy males.)

She closes the window in a whisper of soft creaking and drapes the crumpled piano cover over Saihara’s shoulders in an attempt to swaddle him in the makeshift blanket. Then she leaves the room, making sure to pull the door shut behind her. 

Tenko is strong and wouldn’t soil her honor by using her strength to prey on the weak.  
(And the next morning, when Saihara is the first to arrive at the cafeteria and his eyes swim with glimmers of a determination that she’d seen in Akamatsu's own, Tenko is forced to reevaluate her estimation of his strength.)

|||

Tenko is half-aware of the fact that she relies on Yumeno far more than the mage relies on her. It hurt when Yumeno went off alone with Yonaga or when she fell asleep before Tenko had reached the end of her tangent, but the disappointment is only a slight ailment that she could easily bear.

Yumeno was captivating in her own right and when the girl finally woke from her haze for long enough to hold a poor excuse of a conversation, she spoke of things that’d come right out of the coloured pages of fairy tales Tenko’d read as a child. Surely anyone who claimed to have such magnificent abilities deserved to live? 

And maybe her need to protect the mage isn’t simply to preserve the life of the host and it’s magic, but the need to be _needed_ by the girl that lay beneath. She prefers not to agonize over the details. 

Tenko is strong and she would protect those that she learns to care for.  
(Selfish motives or not.)

|||

Another corpse is found and Tenko adds it to the steadily growing list of tragedies she’s unable to prevent. Hoshi, or the pile of bones that had once answered to the name, lies dead at the bottom of the emptied tank. Not even Hoshi (bitter, sullen, _murderous_ Hoshi) had deserved such a fate. 

Tenko’s first instinct after the glass cracks and the blood laced water floods out is to rush to Yumeno, but she finds a slightly less cheery Yonaga already embracing her. She begrudgingly relinquishes Yumeno’s safety to Yonaga’s grasp for the time being. 

Tenko settles in the corner of the room and keeps her eyes fixated on Hoshi’s fleshless frame, and before she knows it the majority of the students had left. She only notices this as her vision is blocked by Gokuhara towering over her. 

“Ah, Chabashira-san, the others have left. Gonta and Chabashira can investigate together?”

He holds out his large hand in an offering to help her up and gives her a shy smile. She stares at his meaty fist and thinks about how easily he’d be able to crush her trachea between his thumb and forefinger. (He doesn’t. He wouldn’t.) 

She can’t take his hand, no matter how gentle his gaze. She does, however, investigate Hoshi’s remains alongside him. 

Tenko is strong, but she’d be a fool to deny the strength of others.  
(And that was something Gokuhara certainly possessed.)

|||

Toujou (hardworking, elegant, _doomed_ Toujou) is found guilty. 

Her execution leaves Tenko with a clutter of dreaded thoughts and bile rising in her throat. The trial ends and the elevator ascends. 

The group scatters after stumbling out of the elevator and Tenko heads to the bathroom to douse her face in cold water, only for the basin to be occupied.

Iruma stares intently into the wall-mounted mirror, whispering inaudible words to herself. As she moves closer to the hysterical girl, Tenko starts to make sense of them. 

“I’ll get out of here. The world still needs the beautiful genius, Iruma Miu,” she chants. 

Tenko approaches the inventor with caution. “Iruma-san?”

Iruma jolts. “What the fuck are you doing here?!”

“Tenko came to wash her face, and well…”

Iruma regains her composure. “Yeah, yeah. I get it you came to powder your nose or some shit. Anyways, I’m gonna go.”

“Wait.” Tenko grabs Iruma’s arm before she exited the room.

“Wha-”

Tenko cuts her off, “Tenko thinks, no, knows that everything Iruma said is true.”

“What fucking bullshit are you on about?” 

“Iruma-san _will_ leave and she's beautiful and still has so much to offer the world. Tenko’s sure of it.”

Iruma stares at her, mouth agape. Then rips away from Tenko and leaves with a muttering of curses.

Tenko smiles.

Tenko is strong and could lend her strength to those who needed it.  
(Even if it manifests in hollow promises.)

|||

Yonaga spoke of a god that Tenko had never known, but her preachings enrapture Yumeno and she has no choice but to follow. She follows and follows until the girl that had been leading was no more. 

_Where was your god when you were slaughtered like cattle?_ Tenko thinks bitterly as she slides Yonaga’s eyelids shut. _Not with you_ , Yonaga’s limp body replies. 

Tenko expects Yumeno to want to carry on with the ritual, but she refuses for her to be put in harm’s way because of it. And so, she finds herself in the center of a ritual that would summon who knows what.

Try as she might, she can’t still the fear gnawing at her heart. Every one of her nerves warn her to flee, but Tenko’s never been one to run away. 

_Trapped?_

There’s a flash of pain at her nape and Tenko wishes for nothing more than to let out an agonized scream with her last breath; wishes to see her friends’ faces one last time; wishes to see anything but the inky darkness that envelops her.

But Tenko was strong and therefore wouldn’t have burdened others with her weakness.


End file.
